Middle East on fire

Vitchilo,I told all of you that the regime would attack the infrastructure as they leave power.They don't want any kind of new government to
have anything.The Murbarak's have decided to leave the nation in ruins.

They are not destroying the nation, they are doing this for propaganda purposes.

As for people on Tahrir square...

West used satellite images to estimate the size of Tahrir Square, which is actually a space with fuzzy boundaries more closely resembling a
traffic circle than an actual square, at 490,000 square feet.

Thereafter, he used the calculation of the 2.5-square-foot per-person estimate to arrive at the capacity of about 250,000 people.

And people didn't say 2 million in Tahrir square alone... 1-2 million in CAIRO... Not to mention... do you count all those who came for a few hours
and then left...then new people replaced them? Not to mention, I bet it was really hard for people to make it to Cairo...for several reasons. Almost
no more gas, no more food, no more water, neighborhoods not safe, no more trains... Anyway.

AlArabiya_Eng Sources confirm that non-Egyptians were behind the gas pipeline blast in Sinai

Well ain't that interesting!

"We're sitting in front of their tanks after the army tried to remove the barricades we set up near the musuem. Thousands of protesters
surrounding them now, making it clear the tanks will have to run them over before moving any further. #Tahrir"

20 killed in Sudan shootout, army warns of more clashes (Reuters)

RT @AJELive: The Jordan branch of the Sinai gas pipeline was attacked, not the one to Israel, Israel radio says

Egyptian auth. say foreign element behind the explosion per Eng. AJ

Yeah... might be the egyptian government themselves doing that so people rally around them.

IMO they are changing strategy... New strategy : blowing stuff up to scare people/blame it on protesters and keep saying they are foreign agents.

Will it work?

ProducerMatthew New: A fire has broken out at a refueling station in El Arish, Egypt following a gas leak

Another explosion on the pipeline network...new bomb

Writer and journalist Jon Jensen tweets: "American journalist @Theodore_May has been detained by army in Tahrir. He was filming prayers with a
Flip cam at the time. #Egypt #Jan25."

Mubarak probably is the one who blew up the gas pipeline, according to eyewitness it was bombed with jets. #jan25 #egypt #tahrir
#mubarak

bencnn: URGENT QUESTION TO JOURNALISTS IN CAIRO: HAS ANYONE RECEIVED CALL FROM STATE INFO SERVICE 2 MEET NXT TO EGYPTIAN MUSEUM AT
1215?

Wanting to arrest all journalists in one swoop?

Israel's Yam Tetis gas field is under orders to "respond accordingly" after gas supplies from Egypt were stopped as a precaution because of an
explosion in the Sinai pipeline, the Israeli energy ministry said on Saturday.

#Jordan expects #Egypt gas supplies to be halted about one week after pipeline blast - energy official

LaraGibaly Crowd seems to be getting smaller in #Tahrir today. Still very quiet. Some volunteers have begun cleaning up the mess left
behind.

pakinamamer A Sinai Bedouin who was present near the gas pipeline explosion thinks that "Islamists" are responsible for it. He blames Hamas.

Egyptian military are reinforcing the Suez canal at this time

RT @waelabbas: all human rights activists of hisham mubarak center have been releaseed just now

Kasr El Nil check point moved up to the entrance of the bridge itself, increase in army presence

BBC: Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of North Sinai, told BBC Arabic TV that the Sinai explosion took place at a station where two gas
pipelines branch out, one to Jordan and the other to Israel. "Thank God we have achieved control by stopping any gas leaks to the station. The fire is
more or less completely under control

Still some tension in the streets around Tahrir Square. The BBC's Ian Pannell says small crowds have gathered asking the protesters to leave
with suspected state-security infiltrators being carried away by the anti-Mubarak crowd.

"At this stage, the gas supply to Israel was stopped according to procedure in emergency scenarios" - Chen Ben Lulu - Infrastructure Ministry
Cairo, `'this is purely a precautionary measure"

BBC: Looks like things may not be getting back to normal as quickly as the authorities would like. We've just heard the stock exchange will not
be reopening on Monday, as previously announced. "A decision has yet to be taken on when it will resume business," AFP quoted the state news agency as
saying.

NahlahAyed- Egyptian government to compensate those affected by the crisis: 5000 egp (900$US) for the dead, 1000 for the injured.

Al-J : Egypt's PM says the opposition is divided and weaker than before.

(Bloomberg) -- Egyptian authorities and opposition leaders began talks on ending President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years in power before September
elections as unprecedented protests demanding his exit entered a 12th day.

Fact is, about 30% of the Egyptian people is illeterate... so their only source of news is the TV... so if all real news channels are blocked but
state tv...

The U.S. armed forces are entwined with Egypt's military more than with any other Arab country’s. But if Islamists seize Cairo, as the mullahs
captured Tehran, this complex relationship unravels.

“Let me count the ways,” said Ken Allard, a retired Army colonel and military analyst. “They are our biggest strategic partner in the Middle
East. At that point, you’ve lost your biggest Arab partner. Geostrategically, the mind boggles.”

The U.S. Navy would not be able to use the Egyptian-run Suez Canal. The 150-year-old waterway sharply reduces sailing time for Atlantic-based carriers
and other warships going from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Air Force likely would lose overflight rights into the Middle East, and the Army would lose a partner in building the M1A1 tank.

Indeed. The US MUST, by all means, have a pro-US regime in Egypt... or they will have to invade... no way they will accept to lose that
much.

We've just heard the army is trying to enter Tahrir Square. BBC Arabic correspondent in Cairo Mustafa Menshawy says dozens of soldiers have
attempted to remove barriers set up by the protestors at one of the entrances to the square. He says a senior army official tried to negotiate the
army's entrance to parts of the square which led to arguments with the protesters, who accused the army of attempting to retake control of the
square.

However, Turkey believes that it is not the time to discuss pushing forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Davutoglu told reporters
ahead of his talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Not really, it's not supplied directly to houses, it's stored in big tanks by Israeli gas companies, so it won't be running out very soon.

What it does mean is millions of Egyptian dollars being burnt up into the air, and millions more are lost due to the cessation of gas supply for
months, maybe even years until and if they manage to fix it.

This is a real blow to the already weakened Egyptian economy.

Not to mention that this is a hostile act against the already paranoid Israel... Yeah.. REAL SMART.

But hey, as long as you figure out there's no more BBQ's in Israel you're happy, right? As if hurting Israel's okay..
Such strong, honest, unequivocal morals you have, a real humanitarian you are.
Also I'm *loving* your disrespectful disregarding tone and colorful use of smilies.. Really adds a sense of maturity and balance to your posts.

What it does mean is millions of Egyptian dollars being burnt up into the air, and millions more are lost due to the cessation of gas supply
for months, maybe even years until and if they manage to fix it.
This is a real blow to the already weakened Egyptian economy.

I'd say it's better off left in the ground for later Egyptian use than being given away to Israel..
Though there's probably a backhanded deal with Government officials..
Ya know, big brown envelopes full of cash.....

But energy expert Ibrahim Zahran, member of the campaign against gas exports, says the gas "was under-priced in the first deal, and continues to
be under-priced in the new agreement as well.

"The first deal laid down a price of 1.25 dollars per million British thermal units (BTUs), compared to global prices of about 15 dollars per million
BTUs," Zahran told IPS. "Under the new agreement, the price was raised to 1.75 dollars per million BTUs, although international prices remain the
same: Russia, for example, currently sells gas to next-door Ukraine at 15 dollars per million BTUs.

Mubarak probably is the one who blew up the gas pipeline, according to eyewitness it was bombed with jets. #jan25 #egypt #tahrir #mubarak

Could be, I mean, those pipes aren't exactly built to explode easily, and are buried underground, I'd assume.
If it wasn't Mubarak it was anti government radicals backed up by an outside source like Hamas or Iran, and if it wasn't that it was Israel in
cooperation with Mubarak.

Israel's Yam Tetis gas field is under orders to "respond accordingly" after gas supplies from Egypt were stopped as a precaution because of an
explosion in the Sinai pipeline, the Israeli energy ministry said on Saturday.

+1 for Israel doing it.

pakinamamer A Sinai Bedouin who was present near the gas pipeline explosion thinks that "Islamists" are responsible for it. He blames Hamas.

+1 for Hamas doing it.

BBC: Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of North Sinai, told BBC Arabic TV that the Sinai explosion took place at a station where two gas pipelines
branch out, one to Jordan and the other to Israel. "Thank God we have achieved control by stopping any gas leaks to the station. The fire is more or
less completely under control

+1 for Hamas or MB doing it.

Egypt stops pumping gas to Israel and Jordan

+1 for Mubarak doing it- Money down the drain for the new Egyptian government.

NahlahAyed- Egyptian government to compensate those affected by the crisis: 5000 egp (900$US) for the dead, 1000 for the injured.

Yeah right... Like that's anything close to enough, and like that's really going to happen...

Al-J : Egypt's PM says the opposition is divided and weaker than before.

Probably divided on matters of religion, and how to treat the West and Israel.

Indeed. The US MUST, by all means, have a pro-US regime in Egypt... or they will have to invade... no way they will accept to lose that much.

And the Egyptians can't lose the American aid, having not many other natural resources..

I get the Feeling Mubarak is getting pretty pissed with the West for betraying him...and maybe Israel too (State TV blaming Israeli Spys for the
Violence? Blowing up a Pipeline for an excuse to stop the Gas for Israel? Just to name two examples...)

At the end of the day Egypt is sitting on a mammoth supply of gas and Israel is right across the border form the gas well, so it's easy money for
Egypt whether it's at low or high price (If we are getting all the info on this deal then I agree, the price is low, but there's no sense in just
keeping it).

What ever the case is- This explosion is costing the Egyptians a lot of money, money they can't spare.

But I have a feeling we're getting only half the story from the guy who's opposed to gas exporting to Israel...

For example-

With prices ranging between 70 cents and $1.50 for a million thermal units, the production cost reaches $ 2.65. According to contract provisions,
the Egyptian government is committed to provide what has been agreed upon even if it has to buy at market prices the volume of gas exported to their
foreign partners.

Okay, so it's $1.50

The study was headed by economic expert Omer Hmuda and confirmed that the contracts oblige Egypt to provide 40% of Israel’s domestic gas
consumption. Through buying the foreign partner's share of the gas, the price rises to $9. Eventually, Israel will save up to $4.9 billion,
representing the cost of producing electricity using alternative sources.

Wait, so the price is actually $9 if you don't just look at price per BTU?

According to oil expert Amr Hammouda, Israeli partners in EMG signed three new contracts in October to export additional quantities of Egyptian
gas to Israel for a period of 18 years at $3 per million British thermal units, compared with $12 at world market prices.

So it's $3 compares to $12, not $15?

We really know nothing about Gas exporting, about prices, production prices, what Egypt is getting out of the deal outside the price per million BTU,
and this guy's using that.

blogs.aljazeera.net...
5-egypt-protests
8:01pm Al Arabiya television retracts its earlier report that Hosni Mubarak resigned as head of Egypt's ruling party.

And:

8:07pm Hosni Mubarak must stay in power for the time being, says Frank Wisner, Barack Obama's special envoy for Egypt.

Hypocrites.

Curiously:

blogs.news.com.au...
aldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/report_assassination_attempt_on_egypts_vp
There are reports of an assassination attempt on the new vice president of Egypt, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, that left two of his bodyguards
dead. The White House’s response to a question about it seems to confirm something of that kind did happen:

Clinton's comments show us all just how frightened TPTB are they see that the Movement is spreading from Tunis to Serbia and it makes them crap
bricks.Mubarak is necessary to the process? no, he's not he and Suliemann should be awaiting trail for crimes against humanity.

@andersoncooper: It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave #Egypt ... It was a hard decision to leave. 9 minutes ago via
Twitter for BlackBerry®

Things are getting calmer and you're leaving? Really?

I just gotta defend my boy A-Coop here. To be fair, when he arrived there it was mostly peaceful, and he could do his job. The next day he left his
hotel and got beaten for doing his job by dangerous government forces in desperate acts. There was no clear warning that this change would happen so
quickly and harshly; people were (and still are?) suddenly paying huge sums of money just to enter the airport. So just because it's peaceful right
now doesn't mean it can't turn into a holocaust for journalists and foreigners at the drop of a hat, with no warning time to get out. I wouldn't
stick around there, either, with such a huge target on my chest. It's not as if he's some unknown reporter from Iowa who wouldn't make for good
ransom. AC has Vanderbilt money. They would snatch his @ss up in a heartbeat. The Egyptian people are too busy fighting for their freedom to play
bodyguards to journalists, and I don't think AC underestimates the lengths Mubarak will go to (all under the guise of his thugs, of course). He's
no wimp, either---he was one of the few who stayed in downtown Port Au Prince overnight to broadcast and helped drag an injured kid out of the middle
of a riot; he was on the streets after Katrina despite the terrifying rumors that were going around; he has covered countless war zones and conflicts.
He's no wuss about danger, and the fact that he's dipping out while he can is telling, to me anyways, of the reality of the situation on the
ground.

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